I am still a universe away from being at all compitent at this game but it was really cool and enjoyable.
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Molecular Assembly's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Presentation | #357 | 4.048 | 4.048 |
| Originality | #574 | 3.786 | 3.786 |
| Overall | #719 | 3.579 | 3.579 |
| Fun | #1869 | 2.905 | 2.905 |
Ranked from 42 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
You have to join atoms together to create molecules
Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam
Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?
No
We used pre-existing audio
Comments
Thanks!
I agree that even though the main concept is really easy to understand, I did a very poor job of explaining it, and the timer is way too fast for new players to have time to get into it. The difficulty curve and tutorial are the two main things I will work on for the complete version.
Don't worry, I intend to try each and every game people commenting to me made for the jam, it's only fair and I had a lot of good surprises so far :D
Awesome idea and polishing, the game looks very professional.
My biggest issue was the controls are very unintuitive making the game a lot harder to play than necessary. I love how animation you made it look and the presentation is top notch.
Submitted
SoulBinderThanks a lot!
I agree with you, the game quickly turns into a space/arrows mashing marathon. I originally intended the molecules to be drawn with the mouse, but since I never tracked a cursor before, I had to stick with the keyboard, unfortunately (and the massive wall of text I wrote to explain it doesn't help at all :/ ).
In the full version of the game, it will however be the case!
This was a lot of fun! I really like how real-time this is compared to other games in the "matching" genre. I managed to get 168 in my time playing, but it seems like there's a really high skill ceiling after you memorize the types of molecules and understanding how to leave atoms isolated for stability.
I'm definitely interested in going back to this and get a higher score. What's the highest that you guys know of so far?
Submitted
Shuffolks!Thanks a lot, glad you liked it!
It's true, I've seen almost every new player only stick to H2 and O2 for the first few games, and start to memorize more complex stuff as it comes with time.
My technical high score is 232, but there is an accidental exploit 100% intended game mechanic that basically allows you to go infinite ^^'
You did really well though, I only know 2 people that managed to get past 150 without cheating! (well, 3 now!)
Yep, I saw that on stream just now. Without it though I did manage over 250 just now :D
Using enter to quickly refresh the board to look for molecules in high demand is also a pretty good strategy, since ammonia when it's in high demand is worth 60.
I haven't ever been able to get methane though, so maybe some feedback is to roll a die and with low probability, modify the board after generation to put hydrogens on all 4 sides of a given carbon?
Oh no, my title has been taken! As this game's dev I have to get it back! XD
Ah-ha! I was wondering if people were going to notice that refreshing the grid without any selection doesn't affect stability at all, very well played! ;)
I used this tactic to get my personnal high score too, since easy molecules really don't give that much Profit, they are more intended to balance stability as they are quick to make.
Adding complex molecules here and there randomly so that they would eventually appear is something that was initially intended! But unfortunatly, I didn't have enough time to code it into the game. It will be fixed in the complete version I'll make after the jam ends and the making of is edited!
Love the concept and the presentation. It's very well rounded and original.
Just a bit too hard which can become a bit frustrating and make the sessions a bit short. You should lower the difficulty a bit (and maybe increase it as time pass maybe ?).
Absolutly great work for a jam, had fun.
Submitted
Butterfliez & BeezThanks a lot for the feedback, I'm glad you liked the MAU™!
Ahah, yeah, it seems everyone thinks it is too hard, even I was having a lot of trouble during playtesting. I wish it was more evolutive, indeed: starting slow to get the player used to the mechanics, and slowly getting faster and faster to challenge experienced players.
There's a lot I have to correct about the game's difficulty curve in the complete version.
Loved the idea of this and it's beautiful! Wish it had a tutorial mode so I could practice. It was so fast that I had trouble getting better at it before I died each time.
Submitted
Symphony KitchenThanks!
Ahah, yeah, you're not the only one to say it is way too hard, I had a lot of trouble getting past 100~150 when playtesting it!
When I'll upgrade the game, I will add a difficulty curve that makes the Stability loss slow at first, but faster the more you play, so that new players can get the hang of it easily, and long-time players can have a challenge to beat their own best score
I think the biggest that that this needs is some feedback for your selections - after you validate, the valid molecules are highlighted, and sound plays, some some numbers for profits would be good.
Also, it doesn't seem like nitrogen gas is a valid molecule. Definitely should also list ALL valid molecules on the side as post-it notes, rather than just those four.
Submitted
Orblin!Thanks for the feedback. I also agree that the game lacks sound design and some animations (like atoms vibrating the more they're unstable, some way to now which molecule is valid and how much profit you made with it, or how much time is remaining before the High Demand screen updates), it feel a bit "dead" without it.
As for nitrogen... It should have been a valid molecule, but I forgot to add it, same with isocyanic acid (H-N-C-O), my bad!
And for that last point, I don't want all molecules to be displayed at she start as post-it or in the game's manual, because it would be overwhelming. I want the player to discover some of them while they play using the High Demand screen. But I agree 4 is maybe a bit too low, I wanted to have 6 post-it initially, I just ran out of time to make them.
But when I'll complete the game after the jam, I'll be sure to update all of this and add some feedback!
I am surprised that there is so much detail in the lore - loved this kind of dumb sci-fi lore soooooo much, written within 48 hours is extra impressive! The presentation and flow is kind of complete which is good. The controls took me long to get used to, if mouse control is enabled (lmb + drag to select, rmb to shuffle) should make this much more enjoyable.
Submitted
SPACE BONDAhah, thanks! I'm more a story creator than a developper, for me lore, even so small may it be, is as important as controls or visuals
As for the mouse, I initially wanted to do exactly this! But since I've never really tracked a mouse cursor with vanilla JS before, it would have taken me too much time to make so, I had to code keyboard inputs instead. I know it's not very comfortable (Space spamming, right hand moving constantly between arrows and Enter), but I had no choice in such a short time bracket.
When I'll upgrade the game, you can be sure I will make both options available!
Woah, this game is fantastic! I kept playing it over and over again to try and get a higher score - I think my best is around 80.
My only real issue is how fast the instability timer is, but weirdly enough that just made it more fun? I'd love to see this expanded on in the future, with the current fast timer kept as a "very hard" option or something.
Submitted
ControllerBoundThanks a lot!
Yeah, the difficulty curve is more a difficulty pancake here, unfortunatly, I wish I had more time to work on the game's balance ^^'
In this state, it indeed feels like a "hard more", or a very old-school arcade game (I should start making people pay 2c per round for 100% immersion, foolproof business idea! :D)
I definitly intend to expand it! There's a lot of mechanics I couldn't fit into the game because of the short time constraint, but that poor scientist isn't remotly close to its last lab explosion!
Thanks!
I really wanted to make the manual not like a massive wall of text, so I'm glad it makes people chuckle. And, yeah, the difficulty curve looks more like a pancake right now ^^'
I'd love to make a more complete version too, there's so much more small ideas that I would have loved to add as features that would make the game and gaming experience much better. It won't be right now, but it will definitely happen this summer!
Very original concept! Quite hard though, could make only 54 profit. Smirked at the "if only the baby has a PhD.." line :)
Submitted
Physical AttractionThanks a lot, glad you liked it!
Since I was alone on the game's developement, I didn't have enough time to balance the stability meter, I figured it was pretty difficult the hard way too, haha! I wish it was more evolutive through time, like starting slowly to get time to learn the controls, then getting faster and faster.
Makes for a good arcade challenge though!
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